Chapter 15

Selphie: It rained the day of the parade. General Carraway was on the phone for most of the morning, trying to find out if it would be cancelled or not, but the weather cleared up by noon. Squall went out with a sketchpad and an umbrella to get an idea of the layout of the downtown area. Everyone else pretty much stayed inside all day.

Irvine still made me nervous; after what happened on the train I wasn't really inclined to trust him right away, but we were stuck in the house all day, so we sort of had to talk to each other, and he turned out to be…well…less of a jerk than he seemed at first. He's also the national sharpshooting champion, which was pretty cool.

Rinoa gave me a tour of the house, which was really huge, and then we spent the morning working on her casting. I was really excited about her progress; she'd been practicing a ridiculously short time, and already she was racking up new spells that should take at least a week each to perfect. The thing is, she usually did them almost perfectly on the first try, and when she had trouble with something, Leviathan would talk to her and then she'd have it mastered and be on to the next spell.

Leviathan's direct, verbal communication with Rinoa was pretty unusual for a new GF-host pair, though not unheard of. Zell and Squall's GF both talked to them in words, but not all the time.

When Squall got back from scoping out downtown, we were both so intoxicated with Rinoa's success that we had to tell him about it. I dragged him, still wet and tracking mud on the foyer tiles, up to Rinoa's room. She cast shell and protect on him with no problem, and then demonstrated how she could cast blind on herself.

Squall raised his eyebrows and looked a little intimidated when she cast blind, though obviously she couldn't see it.

"You shouldn't do that too often. It can damage your eyes." he said, as she tipped her head back and dropped eye drops from my item pouch into her eyes. "Selphie, she learned this in a week?" I told him it had been less than a week. "This is really…unusual. Unheard of, as far as I know."

"I think it's Leviathan that's doing it." she said. "The meditations and stuff came pretty naturally, but he helps me when I'm casting; I can tell. Not just by telling me what to do, but actually doing something." She held up her hands "I know it sounds crazy, but it's like he's the one casting, but through me."

"No, GF don't cast para-magic. They manipulate magical energy directly. It's you who's doing it." He opened the door and checked the clock in the hall. "We have to be here for a final briefing at eight o' clock; it's almost one now. Rinoa, about how long would it take to get out of Deling and into the planes?"

"About half an hour. Why, what are you going to do?"

"With your permission, take you to practice on some live targets."

"She got some practice on the geezards at G-Garden. By the time we had to leave she was taking them out with one spell."

"Yes, she's definitely ready for something more challenging. You're licensed to cast magic of course?"

"Of course!" I cut in before she could blow it. Squall would never let her cast illegally, he was much too by-the-book then.

"Alright, Rinoa, do you want to go?"

"Yeah, you guys have a good time." I said.

"I assumed you'd be coming too."

"No way, much too tired." Squall may not have noticed how Rinoa looked at him when she thought he wasn't paying attention, but I certainly had.

Rinoa is torn between feeling guilty for lying about being licensed, and pleasure that Squall's finally shown some enthusiasm for something besides his job. She gives Selphie a pleading look. Selphie makes a shooing motion.

"I'd really like to, but not without Selphie." Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Selphie clap a hand over her eyes. Squall turns to her expectantly.

"Sure, fine. Rinoa, you have a poncho or something I can borrow?"

"No need, it's already clearing up." Rinoa points out the window, where a fine layer of mist is falling on the street outside.

Selphie, Squall and Rinoa leave a note in Quistis's room and then step out into the chilly, damp afternoon. Rinoa's spirits lift, walking through her old city, not so much from any memory associated with it, but with happiness to be out with Selphie and Squall, and excitement to test her new skills. They buy dinner, sandwiches and bottled water, at a local deli and catch a bus going to a car dealership near the edge of the city.

"It is pretty weird how they don't put seats on these busses." Selphie comments. The bus is a moving platform, with open sides and poles to hold onto. "It seems like an accident waiting to happen."

"There haven't been any accidents as far as I know, unless you count kids scraping their knees because they jump off before it's stopped completely." The movie theater she, Kemy and Shiro used to visit, and the park she ran away to as a child pass. The park looks forlorn now, the swing-set and slides beaded with rainwater.

"So what are you guys doing tonight, exactly?"

"That's confidential."

"Oh Squall, even Martine talked about it in front of her. Her father's overseeing the operation, its fine." Selphie turns to Rinoa "Basically we're going to split into two groups. The gateway group, that's me, Quistis and Zell, will trap the sorceress's float under that big arch during the parade tonight. The other one will go up on the carousel across from it, on top of city hall, and shoot her." Selphie pantomimes a gunshot. Rinoa remembers the sketch of central arc and city hall on her father's desk.

"You need to stop her entire float to get one open shot?"

"Well, if we miss then we have to carry out a direct assault, which could be pretty ugly. We want to keep most of the guards away from her float. The only security allowed to ride the float with her is the sorceress's knight." A stab of guilt runs through Rinoa's chest. Being a sorceress's knight had been Seifer's dream, albeit a twisted one. What a painful irony that for the first time in years there's a use for a sorceress's knight and Seifer is dead.

It's about a ten minute walk from the car dealership to the city limits, after which the trio follows the highway down to the top of an underground train tunnel. Rinoa gazes over the guard rail at the train tracks, about 30 feet below.

"Wouldn't want to fall down there."

"Come on. Monsters won't hang around roads or highways." They set off across the planes, towards a forest. "Forested areas are usually pretty active." Squall says nodding, and looking off into the distance.

"He's really excited about this." Selphie whispers to Rinoa.

"At least he's excited about something."

As they walk, Squall lectures Rinoa on avatar and magic use. Privately, she thinks that he's changed his tune since he told Selphie that SeeDs weren't paid to teach magic.

"You seem to have a really strong connection with, what did you call it? Leviathan. Most hosts can't communicate verbally with their avatars until they've been junctioned for several years, but a lot of things about this pairing have been unusual. Blind, for example, is a level three spell on the PECE."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I can't do it, and you shouldn't be able to either. None of this makes sense."

"She can do the core spells in levels one and two." Selphie cuts in. "She could pass level one field test, easily."

"We'll see; she isn't even part of the program. Have you thought about what you want to specialize in?"

"Specialize?"

"Yes, didn't they give you a lecture on the branches of magic and specialization when you got your license, or did you just take a crash course?"

"Uhhh, she took a crash course." Selphie answers quickly. Squall's pace is quickening as they get near the forest, and Rinoa has to jog a few steps to keep up.

"Well, with your talent you could probably specialize in any area you want to. Healing magic might suit you."

"I think I want to try "forbidden magic"." Says Rinoa, remembering the passage from Squall's SeeD handbook.

Selphie and Squall exchange glances.

"That's out of my area of expertise. Selphie, were there any Melchizideks at Trabia Garden?"

"Mel-whats?" Rinoa is feeling more ignorant by the minute.

"Forbidden magic specialists. No, there isn't really much call for them in the SeeD program. Forbidden spells - they just take too long to cast through para-magic."

"Comparatively easy acess to forbidden magic is part of what makes sorceresses so powerful."

"But…what is it?"

Squall stops walking and gives Rinoa a strange look. "Didn't you just say you wanted to specialize in it?"

"Well…yeah but I mean…in your opinion?" Rinoa kicks herself mentally.

"I don't really have an opinion on forbidden magic per say…SeeD magic specialists use some spells that are technically "forbidden" – Break, Stop, Double, Triple, Aura…" he ticks them off on his fingers. "Direct magic users can use much more powerful ones like Meteor. We probably don't even know half the forbidden magic out there." Rinoa's head is spinning. She's relieved when they reach the forest.

Squall peers eagerly into the dark trees.

"Okay, I want to do the actually fighting out here in the open. I'll go bring something out."

"But-"

But Squall is already crashing through the forest's undergrowth, swinging his gunblade like a machete. Rinoa sits in the grass, trying to replay the last few minutes of conversation mentally.

"Selphie, what was all that about forbidden magic? Double? Aura?"

"It's just a name for a type of spell that's…really difficult. It's not really forbidden, people just started it calling it that after all those T.V. programs came out during the sorceress war. It's really called Melchizidek casting because in ancient sorcery orders, you had to be initiated into the Melchizidek cult to learn it."

"I don't think I can do this…"

"You'll be fine! I promise. I don't know what it is, but you've obviously got something working for you. Rinoa," Selphie crouches next to her "I've never seen casting like that so fast. It's like you're some kind of sorceress or something. You'll get the hang of this."

The trees rustle and Rinoa jumps to her feet. Selphie stands up and nonchalantly pulls her nunchaku out of her half-zipped backpack. Squall walks out of the forest, carrying a plant at arm's length.

"Gross! Squaaaaall!" Selphie whines. Rinoa steps back. Even at a distance, the plant smells like a tupperware box of tofu swimming in green water she'd found in the back of Zone's refrigerator a few years ago. Squall sets the plant, a red blob with a mushroom-like, colorful top down on the ground. It wiggles. (Wiggles?) Two bulging, glassy eyes open on its surface.

"Careful," he says, pulling his collar off his mouth and nose. "It'll put you to sleep if you scare it." Rinoa wrinkles her nose in distaste, but says nothing. "It's called a Funguar. Good practice for a magic caster, it won't move." The funguar shuts its eyes and shades them with its mushroom-like head. "It's sensitive to the sun; it likes shade. Okay, now, I want you to concentrate on drawing energy from it."

Rinoa takes a deep breath through her mouth and exhales. She approaches the wriggling monster, reaches a hand towards it, pantomimes scooping water in towards her chest. Just as in practice sessions with Selphie, Rinoa feels the heat of energy in her fingers.

Inhale. says Leviathan.

Though it's the last thing she wants to do, Rinoa breathes deeply the scent of moldy tofu, and heat rushes into her hands, travels through her arms and into her body. She draws from the Funguar three more times before it's empty. Selphie claps.

"I told you she has a great draw!"

"Good." says Squall "Now use the energy you've drawn to cast a spell." Rinoa flips her hair over her shoulder. "Nothing fancy," he adds, as an afterthought, "just a basic one."

Rinoa raises one hand to cast, and the Funguar droops over resignedly, as though in hopeless expectation. The weight of its oversized head drags its body over, until the red plant is bent double. (It doesn't even try to fight back.)

Dropping her hand, she turns back to Squall. "I can't. Look at it, it doesn't even…"

"Rinoa, it's just like the geezards. At G-Garden, remember?"

"Sure, but at least they had some…spunk. They jumped on us as soon as we got in the door; one of them almost bit my hand off. This one is just sitting there."

Squall sighs. "Rinoa, monsters are…they're all aggressive. They're the natural enemies of humans. None of them are essential to our ecosystems; they attack humans, cats and dogs, and each other. They're…"

"But look at it! It didn't even try to fight back!"

"Because it knows it's outnumbered."

"It's…skinny."

"It's starving. Funguar are endangered in most forests; they haven't found a solid ecological niche. This one survived by eating its mate and its eggs."

Rinoa feels a little sick.

She raises a hand reluctantly, casts fire, and the funguar combusts in a burst of blue and orange flame. It crumples to the ground, smoke and the scent of scorched mildew rising from its charred remains. "I think I'm going to be sick." Selphie anxiously takes Rinoa's hand and presses rhythmically on the underside of her wrist.

"Nausea pressure point" she explains.

After that, Squall refrains from bringing more funguar. Instead, he chases out a Glacial eye and another Wendigo, and then is chased out by a T-Rexaur.

Selphie and Rinoa develop a rhythm in their casting, alternating types of spells. Squall keeps the monsters occupied, but doesn't attack them. Rinoa casts cure on Squall when the T-Rexaur's claw grazes his shoulder, and is so thrilled with her resourcefulness that she narrowly misses a swipe of its tail. The fights remind her of a movie called The Sorceress Stands or The Standing Sorceress; something like that. Though the premise is hazy in her mind, she remembers a scene where a sorceress is casting magic on an assassin who's fighting her knight hand-to-hand. Then another assassin, someone's long lost brother, runs into the scene holding a gun like Irvine's and shoots at the sorceress. She doesn't duck, but her raises a hand over her head and a blue shield blocks the bullet. Then there's a close up of the shell rolling on the ground in slow motion.

By the time the training session is over, Selphie's had Rinoa practice all her old spells and taught her three new ones, useful but uncommon in on-the-job SeeD casting. "Poison" is a very effective spell, though it doesn't work on the anything but the Wendigo ("because it's closer to us in genetic make-up"). Rinoa has some trouble mastering "meltdown" until Leviathan relaxes her shoulders with invisible hands, and she casts it with wonderful effect on the T-Rexaur. "Silence" is more of an espionage caster's spell, Selphie explains. SeeDs learn to do learn it - some of their jobs involve subterfuge - but "we're only mercenaries, not spies." Silence contains sound waves within a certain range of frequency in the area its cast in. "We did this awesome experiment at Trabia Garden where we cast silence on our partners, and then took turns blowing a dog whistle and our math teacher's dog, Angelo, came to whoever was whistling even though we couldn't hear them…"

The walk back to Deling City feels much longer than the walk out, but Rinoa is in high spirits. She eats her sandwich out of its waxed paper as she walks, and tries to get Squall to talk more by asking questions.

"How old were you when you got your first GF?"

"Thirteen."

"What's he like?"

"He's a thunder elemental named Quezacotl. His independent form is a bird."

"And you've summoned him before."

"Yes."

"How about Zell's?"

"Zell's GF? It's a fire demon, Ifirt."

"What's his independent form?"

"I don't know."

It's almost seven when they reach edge of the city. Rinoa finds a bus headed downtown. As they pass under the central arc, the crowd on the sidewalks becomes steadily thicker. The decorative iguana statues clinging to the sides of the arc (the scene that's come to represent Deling City in tour guides and history books) glare at the bus.

"Lots of people out tonight." she says.

"For the parade, I guess." says Selphie.

"This early?"

"Sure, it's a big deal. Everyone wants a good spot."

"I just didn't know it was so publicized. Selphie, I thought of something. Can't a sorceress block bullets?"

"Sure. An HS shield can do that too."

"I mean even the ones that can get through those, with her hand. Like a shield – I remember a movie, I think it was based on something from the sorceress wars, I'm not sure of the title…"

She's relieved when Squall interrupts, "Sorceress's often practice blue magic, and imitate monster's shields manually. During the sorceress war, Adel was able to do it with such efficiency that she stopped a sniper shot. It was in the news for weeks, that must be what the movie was based on."

"So what's to stop this sorceress from doing the same thing?"

The arrival of the bus at Carraway's house puts off his answer, but Rinoa pushes the subject.

"Couldn't she block your shot? Like Adel?"

Squall shrugs, eyes forward. "Adel was one-of-a-kind. She took defensive blue magic to a level no one had seen before. Besides, the chances of her having time to react with no idea that the shot is coming are almost nothing. No one has the reflexes for that."

"Yes, but even so, wouldn't it be better…safer if she couldn't cast, especially if you have to fight her hand-to-hand?"

Squall gives Rinoa a skeptical glance; Selphie's turning from one to the other as if following a ping pong ball, as she opens the Carraways' front door.

"It would be better. But that's not possible." That's the tone of voice that implies the end of a subject. But…

"Look, wait here. I'll be right back I just have something to show you." Rinoa heads up the stairs.

"Rinoa, hurry. We're meeting the general in like, 10 minutes." Selphie calls after her. Actually, it's more like five minutes, but this won't take long. Rinoa runs upstairs, checks up and down the hall, and then gently nudges the cracked door to her father's office open.